Blog Posts
So, How Much RAM Do You Actually Need?
With AI data centres gobbling up memory and RAM prices soaring, how much memory does your computer actually need? This post explores what's eating your RAM, how to manage it, and whether you really need that upgrade.
Microsoft Keeps Trying to Name the Future
Microsoft has quietly retired the Copilot+ PC brand, but the technology behind it isn't going anywhere. It's just the latest example of Microsoft giving an emerging technology a brand and category that don't quite work out.
The Terminal Before the Terminal
I saw a room full of cool retrocomputing hardware, and the thing that delighted me the most was watching a Linux long listing print on a Teletype. In this blog post, I'll tell you why.
Another Special Family Vacation
You may have noticed that I haven't been active online or at work during August, which is certainly out of character for me. But no, I'm not dead. I've been on vacation spending quality time with my daughter, her partner, and my two grandsons from Australia.
A Brief History of Computing
A humorous and slightly exaggerated (but surprisingly accurate) tour through the evolutionary history of modern computing.
How Nature Benefits Us
This post is more of a personal reflection on why time spent in nature allows us to reconnect with the memories and relationships that have shaped our lives.
Open Source Gatherings Still Rock in 2026
No laptops. No slide decks. Just nerds debating AI, software freedom, decentralization, and the strange magic of in-person tech communities in Kitchener-Waterloo.
The Return of the UNIX Workstation (Now With AI)
I was a heavy UNIX user throughout the 1990s, back when powerful RISC UNIX workstations roamed the Earth. SGI Octanes, Sun Ultras, DEC Alphastations... all absurdly expensive and built for science, engineering, and development work. And the new NVIDIA GB10 feels like the first true successor to those systems that I’ve used in over 25 years.
Windows Server 2025 Runs Better on ARM
While updating my Cengage book from Windows Server 2022 to 2025, I noticed that ARM was faster... but after digging in further, that's because it delivers more consistent, low-latency performance... especially in virtualized workloads.
The Rise of Local AI (and Why It Won’t Replace Cloud AI)
The debate between local vs cloud AI is already outdated. The real story is how the two are converging. The future of AI isn’t local or cloud… it’s a hybrid of both, and we’re already using an early version of it.